World Cup injury crisis: Stricken Rio doesn't want to go home

ENGLAND captain Rio Ferdinand is refusing to go home after being ruled out of the World Cup on Friday.

The Manchester United centre back injured his knee during England’s first training session in South Africa on Friday. But he has decided to “stay on and help” as England prepare for tomorrow’s friendly against local side Platinum Stars at the nearby RoyalBafokeng Stadium.

My man in the camp says: "Rio’s devastated but Fabio Capello has spoken to him. He’ll have Rio around for as long as he wants to stay. Rio is a popular man in the camp. Fabio thinks it would be good to have him around in a similar role to David Beckham.”

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is apparently happy with the arrangement, given the high quality of the brand new medical facilities at England’s Royal Bafokeng Sports Campus near Rustenburg. Ferdinand, 31, has been diagnosed with a “grade two cruciate ligament strain” by England’s former Arsenal physio Gary Lewin but no rupture was found. He has already been replaced in the squad by Tottenham’s Michael Dawson, who arrived yesterday morning.

With the injured Beckham already filling the role of team liaison officer, Ferdinand'sadvisor Jamie Moralee said: "Rio is absolutely distraught. He worked so hard after the back injury that had troubled him for much of the season and he was feeling extremely fit and very sharp.

"I know how proud he would have been to lead out England in their World Cup Group C opener against the United States next Saturday. It would have been the proudest moment.

"So to suffer this freak injury in training is just a nightmare for him. He is so upset he can hardly speak. It's a crying shame."

With some players admitting they heard a crack when Ferdinand went down after a clash with Aston Villa’s Emile Heskey, Frank Lampard – the new vice-captain behind Steven Gerrard in Rio’s absence – said: "I spoke to Rio and he’s very down. He is such a good mate and for this to happen made me feel sick to my stomach."

England are not the only ones with injury problems. Holland are fretting over ArjenRobben’s hamstring after their 6-1 thumping of Hungary, Chelsea’s John Mikel Obi is out of the tournament after hurting his ankle and re-inflaming his knee in the Nigerian camp in Richards Bay and Tottenham’s Wilson Palacios hurt his shin during Honduras’ the 3-0 defeat against Romania in Austria last night .

Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba is likely to miss the tournament with a broken arm despite "successful surgery" yesterday, while Mexican Guillermo Franco, Italy playmakerAndrea Pirlo and United States striker Jozy Altidore are all struggling.And those big name blows come after the withdrawal of Beckham, Germany captain Michael Ballack and Ghana midfielder Michael Essien.

But England boss Fabio Capello appears to be unfazed by the spate of World Cup injuries and insists he will field his big name stars – including injury-prone pair Wayne Rooney and Ledley King – in Monday’s friendly. After lacklustre wins over Mexico and Japan, he said: “Sure these are friendly games, but you have to prepare for the game against the USA.

"Of course we have to be careful about injuries but we have to prepare for the opening game against the USA on June 12. So, yes we do have to play our best players.

"I have to play all the players that will play against the USA for 45 or 60 minutes.”

The US, fresh from their impressive 2-1 win over Turkey in the final match of their send-off tour, beat Australia 3-1 in Ruimsig near Johannesburg yesterday.

England's other Group C rivals Algeria saw off the United Arab Emirates 1-0 while Ghan did the same to Latvia. Serbia edged Cameroon 4-3 and Slovakia beat Costa Rica 3-0. Italy's poor form continued with a 1-1 draw against Switzerland while South Africa's unbeaten run continued with a 1-0 win over Denmark.

Neal Collins (nealcol on Twitter) is in South Africa promoting his first novel A GAME APART, dubbed the book you must read before the World Cup. For more details, go to www.nealcollins.co.uk. To see his uplifting video of yesterday's South Africa friendly, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAZhxAVIwLU

Rio's bed barely cool as Dawson touches down in South Africa, ready to train

MICHAEL DAWSON is here. He touched down at Johannesburg’s Oliver Tambo Airport this morning ready for the greatest month of his life.

Yesterday he was 5,000 miles away contemplating a summer holiday and how he was going to persuade the missus to let him watch England’s World Cup campaign on the television.

Then England captain Rio Ferdinand’s knee gave way during England’s first training session at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Complex after a challenge involving Emile Heskey. The injury-prone Manchester United star – who played started 13 Premier League games last season as he struggled with back and thigh problems – was rushed to hospital, underwent scans and was ruled out.

While we wrote the footballing obituary for a 31-year-old who is unlikely to feature at Brazil 2014, Dawson was fielding the call from Fabio Capello. I imagine the conversation would have gone something like this from the Italian Generalissimo: “Michael, your country needs you. Get to Heathrow, pronto!”

Dawson, 26, who flew in on the same plane as several reporters, has had to miss today’s wedding anniversary... but his bags came off the aeroplane first.

Part of the original 30-man squad, Dawson has yet to win an England cap. He heard on Tuesday he hadn’t made the cut, last night the dream was back on line. This afternoon he will be training with the squad before the opening Group C game against the USA in Phokeng on June 12.

Apparently he told a passenger on last night’s flight that he really felt for Rio after the “sickener” of a last minute injury.

And Spurs boss Harry Redknapp, who spent the middle part of the week insisting Dawson should have joined White Hart Lane pal Ledley King in South Africa, found himself saying yesterday: “You can rely on Michael Dawson, no problem. Rio will be a big miss, but Fabio could not have a better man to call on if he has to.

“It really won’t be a problem for Michael, he will get on a plane, deal with it and just give his all. He will also be a great character around the camp because he is always smiling and is a tremendous lad. “At the start of the season, he was not my first choice at Tottenham, he was third or fourth choice, but he did not sulk. He just worked hard, got his head down and grabbed his chance when it came. I’m sure he will do exactly the same with England. He’s had an absolutely wonderful season and proved he is one of the best central defenders around.”

Redknapp believes Capello will no go with a centre-back pairing of King and Terry, adding: “I don’t think people need to worry too much about Ledley possibly getting injured as well. Six days between games is fine for Ledley.”

The challenge on Didier Drogba which changed the World Cup forever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXF8s3BCpwc